Feb 1 Launch: Toll-Free Numbers, Online Faxing, Virtual Numbers

[NY Tel Guy]

It's so difficult being me, but as you asked I feel obligated to provide you with your pricing strategy........ Of course, the control panel should have some hidden toggle on/off option to assuage the screamers.

Ahhhh, whadda you know.

[jmczeal]

I mentioned to your Brandon on a long phone call a bit ago that you should not be offering adapters that are not routers. Especially if you are going mass market, you don't want to ship out a PAP2 only to surprise grandma that she has to now buy a router -- talk about a "gotcha." I like the way that Vonage does it -- asking customers to identify what their network looks like and shipping the proper device. I don't know if you have the scale to offer multiple devices; if not, ship the combo unit only. As time goes on you'll have the need to replace defective adapters -- I like the idea of having returned units (after appropriate cleaning) be sent out as replacements -- so you'll need a steady supply of those, which you'll get by having a charge for canceling service and keeping the adapters.

You know what, I never really thought of that, but this is true. I guess I didn't notice since I already had dsl router I could connect to. But, you do have to come to that fact that there are multiple phones in different locations in one house. So, hooking each one up to an adapter, and keeping them connected to internet could be a challenge. I personally use a Linksys Voip Wifi Adapter Bridge (forgot the model number). If you have cordless telephones, wouldn't be a problem. But, if you want the whole house connected, how can that be arranged?

I tried the suggestion somewhere on the forum where you can connect the adapter to the phone line directly, and the whole house will use voipo. However, that test was unsuccessful.

[Brian]

For market segmentation purposes, you might consider a "Titanium Plan" at the $24.99 price point, which includes 5,000 minutes of calling, with extra minutes at 4¢. Also a "Platinum Plan" at the $20.99 price point with 2,500 minutes of calling, with extra minutes at 3¢ each, and a "Gold Plan" at the $14.99 price point with 500 minutes of calling, with extra minutes at 3¢ each. Term discounts apply to the fixed plan charge, not to the usage charges. By staying out of the "unlimited" game, you'll be avoiding the 3rd World Dictionary Police (otherwise known as home based telemarketers and phone rooms) and scaring off the heavy users who you don't want anyway, and you'll have a compelling reason for subscribers to enroll their "friends and family" because VOIPO to VOIPO will not count against their allowance (like Verizon Wireless IN-NETWORK)! For heavy international users, offer a $5 monthly fee in return for a 5% discount on your international rates. Send all your Directory Assistance traffic to 1-800-YELLOW PAGES and advertise no extra charge for directory assistance calls.

Rocky,

Although I think your concept here is great, the only problem is public perception. It's the reason all the cell companies offer "unlimited" texting, cable companies offer "unlimited" internet access, and other voip companies offer "unlimited" calling. Even though you can offer a 5,000 minute plan (and if you had an unlimited plan, it would be soft capped somewhere around here anyway), Joe User is going to look at that say say "Gee, Vonage gives me unlimited calls, VOIPo only gives me 5,000 minutes" - without thinking about what 5,000 minutes really means. So, as far as marketing, I think you'd be at a major disadvantage here, although realistically everyone would be a whole lot better.

[dswartz]

Rocky made some good points, although I disagree with the "don't give ATA that is not a router". How many people nowadays don't have broadband already? If they do, they already *have* a router! I have seen more bugs and confusion involved with someone trying to get a voip "router" working in an already existing broadband setup (does the voip "router" go in front of the existing one? behind it? how do you keep the real router from intefering with the voip one?) I think this is completely backwards!

[gbh2o]

Rocky,

Although I think your concept here is great, the only problem is public perception. It's the reason all the cell companies offer "unlimited" texting, cable companies offer "unlimited" internet access, and other voip companies offer "unlimited" calling. Even though you can offer a 5,000 minute plan (and if you had an unlimited plan, it would be soft capped somewhere around here anyway), Joe User is going to look at that say say "Gee, Vonage gives me unlimited calls, VOIPo only gives me 5,000 minutes" - without thinking about what 5,000 minutes really means. So, as far as marketing, I think you'd be at a major disadvantage here, although realistically everyone would be a whole lot better.

I think that RockyBB is presenting a great idea of keeping VOIPo above the game of lies. Perhaps an advertising campaign that would compare VOIPos 'generous' offerings with the hidden/true caps buried in competitors TOS or determined through customer or news reports. VoSPs seem slow to recognize that the market has been putting a fair amount of pressure on the cellular, cable and satellite industries to 'clarify' their terms and modify draconian terms... although AT&T seems a bit slow to do anything but add a bit of foggy fluff. Then there are those few, but growing, number of state AGs that are dragging service providers to court to get 'truth-in-marketing' for their citizens. The 'professor' at a chalk board [do those things still exist] of flip charts comparing competitors 'real' numbers to educate the public might work.

Of course, all those plans and price points would depend on whether inbound minutes are charged against that pool of minutes. I don't think they can realistically charge for them separately in the residential 'plan-type' market. So, I would think that the proposed pools are probably unrealistic for outbound-only at those 'platinum' and 'titanium' levels. Of course, I don't have access to the massive wholesale market and associated costs, so I can't speak authoritatively on what US/Canadian retail per-minute rate might be profitable! And I don't know the general usage patterns for average families, etc. MY 'impression' is that 1500 minutes outbound is an _average_ use for the smaller family, but that a teenager or two blow that number away quickly, with their use unfortunately primarily higher cost intrastate, when it can be tracked.

I would say that overage charges should only be high enough to encourage moving to a higher tier if appropriate based on consistent usage. A _reasonable_ overage rate for the occasional spike probably would be a feel-good point with your customers. They shouldn't live in fear of it; stuff happens!


Oh well, I can only guess what makes people happy, and what makes for reasonable profit without good information/data on which to base my suggestions. ;-)

[RockyBB]

Relative to routers: at the SR collapse a buddy's mom (literally a little old lady) who was in trouble asked for my help and I suggested ViaTalk. She got a PAP2. She had no router. The SR gizmo had a pass through port so she didn't need a router. I had to give her my prized SMC 4-port router (which I was saving for the Smithsonian) just to keep her from being disappointed in her son's friend. (I now shy away from residential VOIP as I don't have any more spare routers.) If VOIPO is going mass market, they must anticipate mass market which is the non-sophisticated consumer. Avoid the flood of calls to customer service, the resulting flood of immediate cancellations and ship a combo unit.

Relative to market segmentation ... given VOIPO's relaxed pace for launch, I wouldn't think that immediate gratification would be so necessary. Instead do a little marketing spin and emphasize the familiar IN-NETWORK concept, which has worked wonders for Verizon Wireless and MCI Friends and Family. Why be satisfied with only one sale to a family, when you can make two sales to a distributed family with the purpose of all calls between the households are free! No one has attacked the parents at home, kids away from home market!

I developed the following thought a little bit afterwards, recognizing that there will be some private branding going on. VOIPO could develop the "V-Plan" concept. V-Plan would be the way to get all private label and direct customers to be able to call each other on-net without using allowance minutes. V-Plan would simply be all the phone numbers running on the VOIPO platform under all the marketing names. "Are you in the V-Plan?" Each of the resellers would participate in the V-Plan Alliance. There would be a website where one could key in the 10 digit number and the site would say yes or no if the number is in the V-Plan that day. Maybe a cross-marketing agreement with Verizon Wireless (starts with V) so that calls with V-Plan phone numbers don't use cell or VOIP minutes. This might set up nicely for VOIPO to takeover the Voicewing deal from deltathree, and/or if Tim should want to go to the paywindow one day.

[dswartz]

Not to be argumentative, but I find personal experiences less than compelling reasons. I could counter with the (literally) dozens of threads I've seen on dslreports and other forums where someone was unable to get a voip "router" working properly with their existing network (for reasons I already mentioned.) Maybe we just need to agree to disagree here...

[RockyBB]

we're all functions of our own experiences. your experience is no less important than mine. which is why I did say that Vonage does it best by offering a choice of adapters based on end-user's existing network. the point, as we're trying to help VOIPO in return for the free service, is to identify areas in which they can provide a more satisfactory experience than other providers. my point is there are unsophisticated users with a single PC plugged into a broadband modem. your point is that there are sophisticated users who already have a broadband router. both points are equally valid -- there's no argument from me. We have told VOIPO, our job is done. Now they get to decide what they want to do.

[dswartz]

true enough. having a choice of which way to connect would be nice...

[usa2k]

Great points Rocky!

More thoughts . . .

When I signed up with Vonage years ago, I got their Cisco ATA 186, and the $40 Netgear RP614 four port router. A sign-up that asks if a router is needed and selling them one is a perfectly good approach IMHO.

I prefer adapters a-la-cart adapters. (No router)

I am not fond of transparent ips like the Mediatrix Adapter. I just used it on a network or a direct IP (My ISP offers 3 Dynamic IPs.)


In terms of a $25/5000 minute plan, that is the best controversy free answer to be had. I would call it the Unlimited-lie-beater Plan, or the No Soft Caps calling Plan. Provide a web page option to exceed at the plan minute-rate, or stop all non E911 outgoing.

Only grief comes from addressing abuse on an "Unlimited" plan.

If VOIPo would allow a pooled 5000 minutes offering a second line, even better.Don't give lesser plans pooled minutes. Make 2-lines a Premium incentive.

Discount 1-8xx, FAX, and virtual numbers on the premium too.


The commitment/discount with savings owed for early termination is a good concept. I think a pre-pay every 3 months save 5% option would be worth thinking about too. Allow it to combine with Term Commitment.

ANOTHER THOUGHT: Vonage kills all functionality the day you cancel, even if you just paid your month yesterday. What will VOIPo do?

ANOTHER THOUGHT: Vonage counts 3 way calls as double minutes on limited plans. What say VOIPo?

ANOTHER THOUGHT: Vonage used to want the adapter back, and many felt their rules were twisty. They did not have a disconnect fee originally, but charged $40 until the adapter was returned in good shape. Even then, many claimed Vonage lost their adapter. That would be a nightmare with their current size!

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ANOTHER THOUGHT: Make forward to SIP not use minutes.
ANOTHER THOUGHT: Make forward to CELL use minutes.
ANOTHER THOUGHT: Make forward to PSTN use minutes.
Make those billing rules clear.
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